adaptec 2940

adaptec 2940

[Stefan Berndtsson]

If I buy a normal adaptec 2940, with x86-bios, will that be found
on a b&w g3 and usable in linux?

I assume it won't be bootable, due to x86 bios, but if it's
usable as a dumb scsi-card, that's good enough for me.

Would any other card be more recommendable instead of a 2940?

/Stefan

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Re: adaptec 2940

[Timothy A. Seufert]

At 1:00 PM +0100 2/7/00, Stefan Berndtsson wrote:
>If I buy a normal adaptec 2940, with x86-bios, will that be found
>on a b&w g3 and usable in linux?

Probably yes, as long as the aic7xxx driver (generic driver for
almost all Adaptec cards) is compiled into the kernel.  I think most
current 2.2.x precompiled kernels have this driver, so it should work
without any trouble.

>I assume it won't be bootable, due to x86 bios,

Correct.

>  but if it's
>usable as a dumb scsi-card, that's good enough for me.

If it's a 2940UW, rather than a plain 2940, you may actually be able
to re-flash the card with the current Mac firmware (version 4.1),
which is available for download from Adaptec.  Then you'd be fully
bootable through either MacOS or OF (versions 4.0 onward have OF
support, earlier versions did not).  The one issue is that not all
2940UW cards are created completely equal; some of the OEM versions
for PCs ship with a smaller flash ROM than the name-brand Adaptec
cards and the Mac/UNIX versions.  It at least used to be the case
that the Mac firmware absolutely required the larger flash ROM,
though I've heard that 4.x can fit in the smaller flash.  If you get
a 2940UW it's worth a shot.  The firmware might even work with a
plain 2940.

(If you need to convert the card back later, you can always plug it
into a PC and run the PC flasher.)

   Tim Seufert

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Re: adaptec 2940

[Justin Shore]

At 1:38 AM -0800 2/8/00, Timothy A. Seufert wrote:
>At 1:00 PM +0100 2/7/00, Stefan Berndtsson wrote:
>>If I buy a normal adaptec 2940, with x86-bios, will that be found
>>on a b&w g3 and usable in linux?
>
>Probably yes, as long as the aic7xxx driver (generic driver for
>almost all Adaptec cards) is compiled into the kernel.  I think most
>current 2.2.x precompiled kernels have this driver, so it should work
>without any trouble.
>
>>I assume it won't be bootable, due to x86 bios,
>
>Correct.
>
>>  but if it's
>>usable as a dumb scsi-card, that's good enough for me.
>
>If it's a 2940UW, rather than a plain 2940, you may actually be able
>to re-flash the card with the current Mac firmware (version 4.1),
>which is available for download from Adaptec.  Then you'd be fully
>bootable through either MacOS or OF (versions 4.0 onward have OF
>support, earlier versions did not).  The one issue is that not all
>2940UW cards are created completely equal; some of the OEM versions
>for PCs ship with a smaller flash ROM than the name-brand Adaptec
>cards and the Mac/UNIX versions.  It at least used to be the case
>that the Mac firmware absolutely required the larger flash ROM,
>though I've heard that 4.x can fit in the smaller flash.  If you get
>a 2940UW it's worth a shot.  The firmware might even work with a
>plain 2940.

It might be possible to flash some of the OEMs from the MacOS (or
maybe a different revision of the card) but unfortunately it didn't
work for me.  I tried that with a 2940UW I borrowed from work (meant
for PC) and tried to flash it in the MacOS.  It started to and then
died.  I tried it a couple of times.  I gave up and bought a 2940U2W
for Mac (excellent card!  I just wish they weren't sooo expensive).
It worked like a champ with the stock kernel.  MacOS X Server didn't
like it much though.  Oh well.

>(If you need to convert the card back later, you can always plug it
>into a PC and run the PC flasher.)
>

When I took the card back to work and they tried to use it, it failed
horribly.  It printed assorted junk to the screen and couldn't be
found at all.  I tipped off the guy using it (he didn't know that I
he tried to flash it on a Mac) that he should reflash it.  That fixed
it.  I'm not garunteeing that it will work for you too but it did for
me. :-)

Good luck and let me know how it works for you!
  Justin


--
Justin Shore
K-State Linux Distro Mirror, Sysadmin
macdaddy@vinnie.ksu.ksu.edu
<http://vinnie.ksu.ksu.edu/mirror/rpm2html>
<ftp://vinnie.ksu.ksu.edu/pub/mirror/linux>

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